SB 2.3.17 – An Impetus to Eternal Life

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Are any of you attending one of our programs for the first time or you have all attended before? An advanced group. So I will read one verse and purport from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which is considered the ripened fruit of the tree of Vedic literature, from the Second Canto, Third Chapter, entitled “Pure Devotional Service,” Text Seventeen. Please repeat.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 17

āyur harati vai puṁsām

udyann astaṁ ca yann asau

tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta

uttama-śloka-vārtayā

TRANSLATION

Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse indirectly confirms the greater importance of utilizing the human form of life to realize our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord by acceleration of devotional service. Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing identification of spiritual values. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold. Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jīva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness. A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity. But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened.

COMMENT

So this verse describes how one can use the duration of one’s life for the best purpose. Everyone wants to be happy. Is there anyone here who does not want to be happy? Raise your hand. Everyone wants to be happy. But unfortunately most people in the material world have no idea how to actually achieve permanent happiness, they try to become happy by the interaction of the senses with the objects of the senses but everything in the world is changing and the same thing that gives us pleasure one moment will give us misery the next moment. Much of our conception of good and bad depends on our speculation as to what will be good for us or what will be bad for us.

There is a story of a wise Chinese farmer who was not so quick to jump to conclusions like ordinary people. He had a horse and somehow the horse escaped and ran into the jungle, so all the neighbors came and said, “Oh, how terrible, you lost your horse.” And he said, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” Then his son went out into the forest to try to find the horse, he couldn’t find the same horse, but he found two other horses and he brought them back, and all the neighbors came and said, “Oh, how wonderful you lost one horse but now you have two horses.” And he said, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” So one of those horses was very unruly and the farmer’s son was riding the horse to try to break it in, and the horse threw the son and he broke his arms and legs. Then all the neighbors came and said, “Oh, how terrible, your son has broken his arms and legs.” And the wise farmer said, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” Then the king’s men came, they were trying to enlist young men into the army and they came for the farmer’s son, but when they saw that his arms and legs were broken they said, “We can’t take him.” Then all the neighbors came and said, “Oh, how wonderful, your son was relieved from duty in the military.” And the wise farmer said, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” And in this way the story goes on.

So we are very limited in our understanding of what is good and bad, what will be good for us in the future and what will be bad for us in the future. Because the material world is the world of duality and what looks like good may be bad in the end and what looks bad may be good in the end. But the one thing that is sure is that time spent in Krishna consciousness is gain because it will bring us closer to our eternal happiness with Krishna. The so-called happiness of the material world is temporary as we know but happiness and Krishna consciousness is permanent and it is not affected by time and tide. So how do we come in touch with Krishna? How do we develop our eternal loving relationship with Him? When we talk about happiness ultimately we must come to the point of relationship, loving relationship because without loving relationship we cannot enjoy happiness. Srila Prabhupada said about Arjuna before the battle of Kurukshetra, he was refusing to fight and he said that, “How can I enjoy a kingdom without my family members?” And Srila Prabhupada explains that people enjoy their success, their wealth, their opulent, by showing it off to others. If you have a big beautiful house but you don’t have anyone to show it off to, what good will it be? You could have the most opulent house, billions of dollars, the fanciest car, everything, but if you were all alone and had no one to share it with you wouldn’t be happy. You would say, “Take all of this, just give me one relationship, one person with whom I can have a loving relationship.” But those loving relationships in the material world are temporary, but our desire for loving relationship is real and eternal and it can be satisfied fully only in an eternal relationship with Krishna, God.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened.

COMMENT

Especially in the present age of Kali we give emphasis to the holy name because the holy name is available anywhere at any time. The other processes may not require much, but say reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we require the book, worshipping the deity we require the deity, but the holy name is always available. And the holy name of Krishna is Krishna Himself. If you are thirsty and you chant “Water, water, water, water,” chanting “Water, water,” will not quench your thirst because the word water and the substance water are different. But if you chant, “Krishna Krishna Hare Krishna,” Krishna is personally present dancing on your tongue and therefore devotees chant day after day, year after year, decade after decade. Some devotees pray, “What can I chant with one tongue in two years? If I had millions of tongues and millions of years maybe I could begin to relish the sweetness of the holy name.” But any way we can come in contact with the absolute personality of Godhead will purify us and enliven us because we will be in touch with Krishna, the reservoir of pleasure, and we are all seeking pleasure.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.40) the Lord has explained such contact in the following words: “Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled. Nor is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears.” A highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, so the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear of the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī prepares one’s complete life for eternity. And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease.

COMMENT

So here Srila Prabhupada uses the term pure devotee, that by hearing the messages of Godhead a pure devotee realizes his eternal relation with the Lord and his permanent source of happiness. So we might think, Well, that is true of pure devotees but I am not a pure devotee. So we need to know what is the definition of a pure devotee because to get the full benefit of Krishna consciousness we should be pure devotees. And being a pure devotee does not necessarily mean something that is unapproachable or unattainable by us, in fact, it doesn’t mean that.

Srila Rupa Gosvami gives the definition of pure devotional service,

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu

śīlanaṁ bhaktir utta

‎⁡Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ means without any other desire. Now, this suffix itā is explained by Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, “We should not engage in devotional service for some material gain.” Some people have the idea that if they put some money in the box or whatever they will get some material benefit. This concept is very common in India, in fact, one of our friends in Bombay suggested to Srila Prabhupada just before the Juhu temple opened that if we want to get lots of money in the donation box the Pujaris should spread the rumor that people who put money in the box have gotten great material gains. And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, we don’t make business with our God.” But people do.

There is a joke I heard when I was living in India, I lived in India basically from 1970 to 1999, about thirty years. And so I heard a joke, generally we don’t tell jokes in class, but there is a lesson to it. A man went before the deity of the Lord and he said, “Lord, I am going to bet on the horses and if I win a hundred thousand rupees I will give you half.” So he went and put his money on the horse but he didn’t win a hundred thousand rupees, he won only fifty thousand rupees. So he went back to the deity and said, “Lord, you didn’t trust me, you took your half first.” So, people not only make business with the Lord, they try to cheat it also, but that is not pure devotional service. So anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ means that we engage in service but for the sake of pleasing the Lord, purifying our existence and pleasing the Lord. But that suffix, itā, anyābhilāṣ means no other desire but anyābhilāṣitā means that in ordinary circumstances one has no other desire, one doesn’t pray to the Lord for material things. But it may be in some extreme circumstance one will pray to the Lord. For example, if one’s child has an accident or something one might just pray to the Lord, “Please, save my child.” That is not considered a violation of pure devotional service because that is not your general mood in relation to devotional service to ask for material things, but in some extreme situation having no other recourse one prays to the Lord.

I was also told when I first joined the temple in Boston that if there is some difficulty you can pray to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, you can sing the Nṛsiṁha prayers and He will protect you. And once it happened, I was in a bus, lonely bus, and it was a pretty mean and wild looking person on the bus who looked like he didn’t like my dress or he just didn’t like what he thought I was. And so he started to push me, it looked like he was going to follow me off the bus and I didn’t know what he might do. So I started to sing the Nṛsiṁha prayers and it worked. Somehow his mood changed, he just left me alone. But even that in a way is not material because by then I had already dedicated my life to serving Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna so I knew that if he did something to my body it would really be a violation of my ability to serve Krishna and Prabhupada.

So that is within the definition of pure devotional service, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam. jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam means that one service should not be covered, this is a very subtle point, it should not be covered by karma, or jñāna, or any other process. And Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura gives the example that one should not think that one has to perform some Vedic ritual to be successful in devotional service. For example, the son’s duty is to perform the funeral rites for the father. So if someone thinks, Oh, I have to perform these Vedic rituals to be successful in devotional service, that means that the independent nature of devotional service is covered in that conception. But it doesn’t mean, and again Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura gives this example, it doesn’t mean that the son will not perform the last rites. Because if he didn’t people could criticize, “Oh, he has become a devotee of Krishna, he doesn’t even care for his father or family members.” And then they would criticize, they could commit offenses. So out of mercy he will perform the last rites so that they don’t criticize but to the contrary they may develop a positive impression of and feeling for Krishna consciousness.

ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ. Now, this last part really relates to this verse, ānukūlyena means it should be favorable to Krishna’s pleasure, we should always think whatever we are doing that, I am doing this to please Krishna. In one talk recently His Holiness Sacinandana Swami said, “Before we begin any activity including chanting the holy name we should think, I am doing this to please Krishna, and while we are doing it we should be thinking, I am doing this to please Krishna, and at the end we should think, I have done this to please Krishna.” So ānukūlyena means with the desire to please Krishna and done in such a way that Krishna actually is pleased. Then anu-śīlanaṁ, anu can mean following, like Ramanuja, name of Laxaman – followed Rama. Rupanuga, we are followers of Rupa Gosvami. And anu means continuous, not that I do bhakti, in the sixties, there was a famous yogi who said you chant this mantra twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening, in six months you become God, something like that, but anu-śīlanaṁ means a continuous cultivation. Now we might think, how can I do that? I have my responsibilities, I have my duties as a husband, duties as a wife, even children have their duties, parents have their duties. But if we do what we do in the consciousness that we are doing it to please Krishna and in such a way that it actually will please Krishna then it is anu-śīlanaṁ, continuous cultivation.

Our whole purpose in grihastha ashram should be to help our family members progress in Krishna consciousness. So then earning our livelihood, cooking, cleaning the house, sending the children to school, it is all part of a process that is meant to please Krishna. So, everything can be done in Krishna consciousness but it should be actually done for Krishna, not in a duplicitous way that I am actually doing it for myself but saying that it is for Krishna. So, you can actually be a pure devotee in your present status and in grihastha ashram or whatever status of life you are in, if you keep that focus. And by associating with devotees, chanting the holy name, hearing the topics of Krishna, worshiping the deities, and if you get the chance, going to Mayapur, Vrindavan, some holy place where the deity of Krishna is installed, you can get that impression and inspiration.

So death; everyone is afraid of death because as spirit souls we are by nature eternal, we don’t want to die. Even an ant, if you put a stick in the way of an ant it will go around it, it doesn’t want to be frustrated in its life and its desires for happiness. So every living being wants to live forever because that is the nature of the soul but when we are in the body we are forced to die. And if we waste our time outside of Krishna consciousness then we will die like the Bhagavad-gītā says, we will die like the cats and dogs and take birth again. That is kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇa means miser. A miser is someone who has something very valuable but he doesn’t use it. Just like if someone is very wealthy but he never spends his money, he is kṛpaṇa, he is a miser. So we have the most valuable human form of life that can be used to realize our eternal relationship with God or Krishna and if we don’t use it for that purpose we are like kṛpaṇa, misers. It was of no use, we might as well have been born as a cat or dog and in our next life we may take birth as a cat or dog.

PURPORT (continued)

Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity being subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease.

The materialistic way of pious activities like charity is recommended in the smṛti-śāstras as quoted by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life. Such charity is recommended to be given to a brāhmaṇa. If the money is given in charity to a non-brāhmaṇa (without brahminical qualification) the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion. If it is given in charity to a half-educated brāhmaṇa, even then the money is returned double. If the money is given in charity to a learned and fully qualified brāhmaṇa, the money is returned a hundred and a thousand times, and if the money is given to a veda-pāraga (one who has factually realized the path of the Vedas), it is returned by unlimited multiplication.

COMMENT

In other words, by serving a pure devotee like Srila Prabhupada, whatever one gives is returned in unlimited multiplication. In other words, you can’t even calculate the return which means ultimately that you go to the spiritual world where the opulence is so far greater than anything in the material world it can’t even be compared.

Once Srila Prabhupada visited Hong Kong, well, both Hong Kong and the Philippines but I think this was in Hong Kong, and the devotees arranged to pick him up at the airport with a Rolls-Royce and then they brought him for a press conference at the penthouse of the most expensive and fancy hotel in Hong Kong. And then from there Srila Prabhupada came to Juhu and when he came to Juhu he described to me what happened at the press conference. And he said that at the press conference one of the reporters challenged him that, “You are supposed to be a spiritual person but you are riding in a Rolls-Royce limousine.” And Srila Prabhupada replied that, “Actually the spiritual master is meant to be honored as much as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and in the spiritual world everything is made of touchstones, gems that fulfill all desires, and this tinned car is not at all suitable but this was all they could offer me so I had to accept it.” And then Prabhupada said to me in Juhu, “What else can you say to such envious people?” But the point is that what we stand to inherit from our spiritual father, Krishna, through paramparā, through Srila Prabhupada, it makes anything of this world seem puny and trivial and insignificant. So yes.

PURPORT (continued)

And if the money is given to a veda-pāraga (one who has factually realized the path of the Vedas), it is returned by unlimited multiplication. The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is realization of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ). There is a guarantee of money’s being returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion. Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning home, back to Godhead.

COMMENT

Just a moment. There is a verse in the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that says that “Just a moment’s association with a pure devotee cannot be compared to lordship over a kingdom on this planet, or elevation to a heavenly planet, or liberation itself.” And the reason is that two things can be compared only when there are some points of similarity, but Srila Prabhupada and acharya say there is no similarity between the value of a moment’s association with a pure devotee and a kingdom on earth, or even elevation to heaven or impersonal liberation, because the greatness of the gift of a pure devotee so far exceeds the benefits of those things that there is no comparison. If we experience some really tasty prasāda we say, “There is no comparison to this.” Because it is so much better than anything else. But we need to have faith, I mean that is also a problem, that we hear these things and we think it is exaggeration and we think it is a nice theory, we are not even really sure if it is all true, but that can be changed by association. When you actually offenselessly chant and hear, you feel it this. Then you know that it is for real.

PURPORT (continued)

Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.

COMMENT

So we are back to the idea, “Oh, how terrible, Oh, how wonderful.” So generally we think Oh AIDS, how terrible disease, how terrible. But if those serve as an impetus to our Krishna consciousness which will help us realize our eternal, spiritual, blissful life with Krishna, then it is favorable. So we should learn to take every situation as Krishna’s mercy, as an opportunity to remember Krishna more. And actually, everything we experience in this world is meant to help us remember Krishna more. And sometimes in difficulty a person’s Krishna consciousness is accelerated. Sometimes when things are going well we think we don’t need God, then when something goes wrong then we realize we do need God.

Just a few days ago I had an apparent reversal when I was staying in the Washington DC area and it turned out to be the best thing because up until then I was thinking, I am in control, I am doing everything the right way, everything is going my way. And then when, forgot what it was, something, some pain, I think some physical pain, then I realized, Actually I am not the controller, I am dependent on Krishna. And that was the best thing, that was much better than that false conception that things are going well due to my own efforts. Ultimately everything depends on Krishna’s mercy. So, we just have to realize that fact and then we can be happy. It is actually quite a burden to try to take Krishna’s place, to think we are the enjoyers, we are the controllers, we are the proprietors, it is much easier to be who we actually are, eternal servants of Krishna, then that whole burden is lifted and we can actually be happy.

So you all are very fortunate, I am fortunate to be here with all of you in this nice temple with all these nice deities and devotees. And so we should use our time as much as possible in Krishna’s service and that will make us happy forever.

Hare Krishna.

So, are there any questions or comments? Yes.

Devotee: You gave one definition of pure devotional service which appears to suit or fit even if one’s heart is not fully purified. In other words, you can be engaged in pure devotional service and yet still have some impurity in the heart in the sense. . .

Giriraj Swami: As long as your desire is, as long as your desire is to purify yourself of the other desires and not use devotional service to fulfill them.

Devotee: Yes, because also we hear about the pure devotee being one who has no desire for anything but pure devotional service who is purified of all other desires.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, well, this definition of pure devotional service can apply to devotees at different stages of advancement. This verse is called the Hari-bhakta-sutra, the verse that governs all the other verses in the work. So Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu describes different grades of devotees—kaniṣṭhā, madhyam, uttamā. but they are all seen in relation to this verse or this definition. And Srila Prabhupada has given the example of a mango. A mango is a mango even when it is unripe, and if it stays attached to the tree and the tree is properly nourished then that unripe mango will eventually become a ripe mango but it is still a mango, but the one is sort of green and hard but eventually it becomes sweet and juicy. So, there are a number of statements in which Srila Prabhupada says that even a neophyte can be considered a pure devotee if he has faith. And the reason I mention that in relation to this purport is one sentence in particular, makes it very clear.

“As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear of the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently.”

In other words, he is a pure devotee and thus the messages injected in his ear are very effective and it even mentions that:

“And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence.”

So he is a pure devotee but he is still busy purifying his existence. And actually there is no limit, a pure devotee always wants to serve Krishna more, serve Krishna better, he doesn’t think he is a pure devotee.

Like the one letter Prabhupada wrote to one disciple, he was thinking that someone, some disciple of Prabhupada was a pure devotee and others are not pure devotees. And Srila Prabhupada wrote back, “Anyone who is sincerely following the instructions of the spiritual master is a pure devotee.” But that is not such a small thing but it is something that we can all do beginning at any stage. And that was His Holiness Sacinandana Swami’s point the other day that we should do it to please Krishna, we should engage our bodies, minds, and words, and we should act in such a way that Krishna really is pleased. He explained it in a way it is very practical for all of us and it is derived from this definition.

Are there any other questions or comments? Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Thank you for wonderful class. [Unintelligible 00:54:32] whatever condition is, situation is coming, we should accept and say yes to the Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, I am not sure exactly what you mean.

Devotee: You mentioned that we should accept the situation but even in our life and then continue the devotional service.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, we should take it as an opportunity to serve Krishna. It doesn’t mean that we just let things go as they are. For example, if the plumbing is backing up we don’t say, “Krishna’s mercy.” It is our duty to Krishna, we have to call the plumber and fix the problem. But like His Holiness Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja said to Srila Prabhupada, “I have only one department, the Bhaktivedanta Institute, and there are always so many problems.”

Can you hear back there?

Devotee: Can you say it again?

Giriraj Swami: His Holiness Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja once said to Srila Prabhupada that, “I have only one department, the Bhaktivedanta Institute, and there are always so many problems in just one department. And you have the whole worldwide mission with so many activities all over the world. I can’t even imagine how many problems you have to deal with.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Problems? I don’t see any problems, I see only service to my guru Maharaja.” So that is the vision.

Any other questions? Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. This is regarding chanting [Unintelligible 00:56:48]. When we are chanting, we try to chant attentively, but can’t realize that weeds are growing along with it. But how to improve the chanting because sometimes we find fault in others or sometimes we think that we are the best or we try to criticize others. So those are the weeds which grow along with your chanting at your service. How to become pure devotee as you have said?

Giriraj Swami: What you described is a good beginning, it means that you are conscious of your weaknesses. And when we chant sincerely with the effort to hear we will notice the thoughts that run through our mind that take us away from the holy name. And the general rule is that when the mind wanders we should bring it back, and just like when you are making ghee from butter, the impurities rise up to the surface then you wipe them off and more come up, you wipe them off, more come up, and when there is no more impurities then you have pure ghee. So we shouldn’t be amazed or discouraged if those impurities come to the surface, it is part of the process of purification. And if something comes up and it doesn’t just go away, it repeatedly comes back, then it might be something that you have to attend to outside of your chanting to deal with. But it is true that at the time of chanting the condition of our heart very much influences the chanting. So throughout the day, throughout the week, we should try to keep our heart in a good condition. And what you described, thinking oneself better than others, wanting to put others down so one seems better in comparison, these are really very destructive types of thoughts and we just have to decide, “I don’t want this,” you just have to, “I don’t want this, it is getting in the way.”

If you relish it, it is nothing about you, but it is like a pig rolling in stool, but we are conditioned, we just have to decide, “I don’t want this,” just let it go, just bring the name into the forefront and then when I am not chanting make an effort to appreciate the other devotees to assist them, to encourage them, not to try to put them down, so that you look better. But we have that, it is always there to some degree but we should see it as an obstacle and kick it out. Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:01:02].

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:01:10] this is something that happened to one of our relatives, he has [Unintelligible 01:01:18] and then his business did grow and he did forgot to give it so he remembered in a couple of years, and then he told himself [Unintelligible 01:01:34] he said, “I am going to give the equivalent number of rupees to the Lord.” So when he put the money [Unintelligible 01:01:44].

Giriraj Swami: Yes, wonderful, he was fortunate, very fortunate. I didn’t know how the story was going to end but when you began I thought of a story that involved Srila Prabhupada.

Devotee: I just remember this story [Unintelligible 01:02:31].

Giriraj Swami: Yes, yes, that is true, that is true.

Any other questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:02:43].

Giriraj Swami: Yes, so one disciple in Los Angeles he had ten thousand dollars to give to Srila Prabhupada and fresh hundred dollar notes, but when he was just at the door to Srila Prabhupada’s room he thought, If I give the whole amount to him I don’t have money to get home. So he removed one of the hundred dollar notes, then he went and gave Prabhupada this big stack of hundred dollar bills and Prabhupada very patiently counted each and every note, and he looked at the disciple and he said, “You are one hundred short.” So then he had to come out with the last hundred, and of course, he got home.

Yes,Prema Vilas?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:04:05].

Giriraj Swami: Well, why don’t you give your comment and then I will comment on your comment? Something has struck you about that phenomenon, so what is your assessment?

Devotee: My thoughts stems from the fact that scriptures are clear, if you came to Krishna then Krishna will take care of you and not only in this lifetime but [Unintelligible 01:05:16] necessity of life everyone should give everything to Krishna. But I don’t see that at all, I feel that the focus is not actually on the [Unintelligible 01:05:38].

Giriraj Swami: Well, that is a good question. Different people have different requirements according to their situation, and therefore we have varnashrama. For example, a brahman will be comfortable living in a certain way, kshatriya has to have opulence, to rule, of course, there are no kshatriya, that is another thing, but a kshatriya does need opulence to rule, he has to have soldiers, he has to be able to give in charity. In different statuses people have different requirements or different standards are appropriate. There is also the question of taking service from Krishna, I will tell a very simple example from when I first joined the temple. It was a very small temple in Boston, 95 Granville Avenue, and just a few devotees, and one day when we all went out on saṅkīrtana I forgot to lock the door. So I asked one of the older devotees what to do now, “I forgot to lock the door. I was thinking maybe I should pray to Krishna.” And he said that is too much helplessness, you should have been responsible sort of taking service from Krishna. Because I forgot to lock the door now I have to ask Krishna to do extra work to make sure that no one who might want to enter the unlocked door comes.

So Srila Rupa Gosvami set the example. As a grihastha, he gave 50 percent for Krishna consciousness, and kept 25 percent for his expenses, and 25 percent in reserve for future emergencies. So in grihastha ashram it is part of one’s duty, yes, to give in charity to Krishna, but also to have money to maintain one’s family and also to have some in reserve for future eventualities. But that situation where I am living very opulently and Krishna is struggling, that doesn’t sound so good. Like Prabhupada used to say the servant of the king enjoys almost on the same level as the king so if we serve Krishna in opulence then we are also living in opulence. But it shouldn’t be that Krishna is living like a poor man and I am living like a rich man. I have never been in the grihastha ashram, but do you have something to say?

Devotee: Well, you gave the example that Rupa Gosvami. And that is a very high standard, sometimes 50 percent is more than a grihastha can really afford, but some percentage; if it is not 50 percent maybe it is at least 10 percent is I think, a good standard for grihastha, at least 10 percent of their income and always trying to increase it, and always, like you said, putting Krishna’s temples needs in front of your own needs, the temple needs support and for that, you do something differently, you put Krishna’s needs first. And I think what you said about different people’s needs, they are different, different people, different devotees may be more comfortable or be able to be comfortable with less than another devotee. Another devotee they find that their devotional service is impeded if they don’t have a certain minimum standard of place to live, etc. Then the other element that was mentioned is taking care of our children and that I have to say that to some extent in our enthusiasm in our early days of ISKCON we may have surrendered much more than we should have because we ended up neglecting our children on account of that. So that is something that we have to be careful of, that we take care of our children.

I heard it said by some of our children that they look to our life and the way they grew up in our families and they think, Well, I don’t want to give my children the same kind of life that I had where things were not stable. And it was not so much what they were getting but the stability of their [Unintelligible 01:12:44], so they want to stabilize their life and have an education, and an occupation, and a profession, and I can understand that sentiment. But at the same time the lesson of early ISKCON, I believe is that we can thrive as householders, as grihasthas when we surrender and look to engage as much as possible in devotional service. You are not going to lose. You are not going to lose, you don’t have to be worried, you don’t have to be. . . We have to be responsible but not thinking that If I give to Krishna then I won’t have enough for something like this.

Giriraj Swami: I think, of course, the two could be related, but the main factor in the stability is the relationship between the husband and wife. And I have seen that and I even heard there was a survey done of children who graduated from gurukula, and the ones whose parents were weak in Krishna consciousness they ended up being weak, those who had one parent who was strong they did a little better, and those whose both parents were strong they did very well themselves. And often the parents doing well in Krishna consciousness either indicates a stability in their relationship or leads to a stability in their relationship.

Yes, I was just with a couple in the DC area and they really have a wonderful relationship, but on the face of it, it would seem unlikely. Anyway, I just asked about it and they said that according to their charts they were very compatible but that it would only work if they both maintained their spiritual focus, if they lost their spiritual focus it would all fall apart. And they have been doing it and they have been successful. So yes, but the children need good association at home, but they also need the association of peers. And I remember there are a lot of initiatives for children and youth to have association of peers in Krishna consciousness, that is important.

A few years ago there was a, what they called Pandava Sena youth retreat in Houston, and it was amazing. It was really amazing. But one of the things that a number of youth mentioned at the end when they were describing what was the best part of the retreat, or the most memorable, or the most significant, was having peers that they could speak to; peers in similar situations. So, we need that association, all age groups need that association. So yes, I am not sure what we have here but I am sure that we can do something for the children, young people. Because that is part of our duty. In fact, the Bhāgavatam says no one should become a guru, no one should become a father, no one should become a mother, no one should become a husband, unless he can deliver his or her dependent from the repetition of birth and death. So it is the consciousness. After that I was so encouraged by that youth retreat, sometimes I would be absorbed in that thought, I don’t want to have to take birth again. But I thought, Well if these young people continue the way they are and take charge of the movement it wouldn’t be so bad to take birth again, ISKCON.

Yes.

Devotee: Thank you Maharaja. You said about that one should not have children unless you can deliver them. In my own case my children are twenty-six and twenty and they are not Krishna conscious but when they were little kids I was not in Krishna consciousness so I didn’t know any better and now it is kind of too late. I pray and I try but they are not willing to. They follow some, they are vegetarian, but they do other stuff. So it is hard for me to not go back, I did make those mistakes back when I was ignorant myself. So how do I correct it now?

Giriraj Swami: Just be the best you can as an individual, and by your example if you show your good qualities and you are happy in Krishna consciousness then your children will see it and they will have some appreciation. You can regret that you didn’t have this knowledge when you were raising them, that is also proper and purifying, but there is not that much you can do other than become a pure devotee yourself and then the power of your prayers will be so powerful that they will benefit.

Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna. Many times congregation devotees have an approach and they say that a parent is sick or has been diagnosed with some serious illness or terminal illness and for some kind of guidance of how to pray, what to pray, how to guide. And students may often be pious Hindus but that is the beginning of the end of their recognition of Krishna consciousness [Unintelligible 01:20:22].

Giriraj Swami: Well, if someone asks you to pray I feel you should pray, people ask me to pray I always pray. But I don’t necessarily specify what the Lord should or should not do, but I will say please do whatever is best for this person. And there is this nice prayer, I believe by Prithu Maharaja, in which he says to the Lord that, “Just as the father does what is best for the child without being asked by the child so You do whatever is best for me, I cannot judge what is best for me, so You just do what is best for me.” So usually I pray in that way. When Srila Prabhupada was sick at the end and we wanted to pray, he gave us the prayer that, “My dear Lord Krishna if You so desire please cure Srila Prabhupada.” We are never in a position of demanding, Krishna is not our order carrier, or Krishna’s order carrier, but we can pray in the mood of helplessness and dependence and surrender.

I will just say a little something about the importance of Srila Prabhupada’s books. I had this experience two weeks ago. You are talking about pious Hindu elders, so I visited a family, very devotional, the mother is an initiated devotee and her mother was visiting. She seemed very pious, very favorable, very devotional, and then she started saying how Krishna appeared to her and did just different things, she heard Krishna’s flute. And I prayed to Srila Prabhupada, “Now, what do I do? Do I just let her say this?” But then I thought if I were to correct her it would disturb the mood of the visit so I just desperately prayed to Srila Prabhupada. The answer I got was, “Just listen and encourage them and don’t try to correct her, I will correct her.” So then I got the idea, say have you ever read Srila Prabhupada’s books? “Oh, I have some.” I think this is very important and then we made an agreement, what books she would read, how much she would read, and then I knew Prabhupada would correct her without disturbing the social interaction.

This might be an extreme way of phrasing it but it is like we don’t have to call them fools and rascals but we just bring them to Srila Prabhupada’s books and he will call them fools and rascals. And I know so many devotees they got a book, they open it up, the first thing they saw was, “If you are simply engaged in eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, what is the difference between you and an animal?” And it strikes them, yes, that is true. If I were to say it so directly, they might not take it so well but when they open the book and read it, “Yes, that is true, I am living like an animal. Yes.

All right, well, thank you very much.